Best Ever Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
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These mini strawberry cheesecakes are by far one of my favorite bite size desserts for holidays, dinner parties, picnics, and brunches at home! The cheesecake is ridiculously creamy with a pop of lemon, specks of vanilla bean, and a spiked strawberry topping. Oof, they are the best!
How are we doing friends? Did you make it through each every one of the 728 days of January? Good lord am I ready for Valentine’s Day and spring and lake days and actually, let’s slow this down a bit. I do turn 30 in July after all and I don’t know if I’m quite ready for that turn of events.
But, what I truly can’t wait for is strawberry season! Winter citrus, I love you, but summer fruit has my heart. And whether they’re in this no bake strawberry crunch cheesecake or cream cheese strawberry danish, all I know is that strawberries + cream cheese + lemon is a winning combo.
As you may know from my strawberry cheesecake bars, I went down a major cheesecake rabbit hole a few years back. These cheesecakes are based off the recipe I originally developed when I was in pastry school. But now they’re even better cause I’ve had a good ten years to tweak and perfect them.
The creamiest cheesecake ever
What I learned in my deep dive on cheesecake is that most recipes are 1. too dense, and 2. too crumbly. There’s no need for dense, crumbly cheesecake, friends! We can have the smooth, creamy, vanilla bean-studded cheesecakes of our dreams. And that’s just what this recipe is about. Oh, and don’t forget the spiked strawberries for good measure!
- This recipe makes 12-18 individual cheesecakes for a crowd.
- The filling has lots of vanilla and a pop of lemon zest. Ahh so good!
- A secret ingredient (spoiler alert: it’s limoncello) makes the strawberry topping even better.
- You can make the cheesecakes in advance for parties, holidays, picnics, and BBQs.
Room temp ingredients
One of the keys to getting a smooth filling is to use room temperature ingredients. Make sure to take the cream cheese, unsalted butter, sour cream, and eggs out of the fridge about 30-60 minutes before you start making the recipe. You’ll also need sugar, lemon zest, and either vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.
To make the crust, you just need graham crackers, sugar, and melted unsalted butter. And the topping is made up of fresh strawberries, sugar, and limoncello. But Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, or orange juice would be great too.
If you want strawberry sauce instead, just skip the fresh strawberry topping. You can use this recipe for strawberry compote or coulis instead!
Tools you’ll need
The most important tool is a mini cheesecake pan or a cupcake pan. I love my cheesecake pan from Williams Sonoma which makes 12 servings. If you use a cupcake pan, make sure to grab some paper liners! Since the cups are smaller, you’ll end up with 16-18 cheesecakes.
For the crust, I like to use a food processor to crush the graham crackers. But feel free to crush them with a rolling pin or buy store-bought graham cracker crumbs. I also like to use a stand mixer or hand mixer for the filling so it comes out super creamy.
Graham cracker crust
When you press the crust, it should stick together but it shouldn’t be wet or greasy. If it’s greasy, add more graham crackers 1/2 sheet at a time.
Don’t skip pre-baking the crusts! You want them to bake and cool completely or the filling will seep under the crust.
Cream cheese filling
Use a Tablespoon or #20 cookie scoop to divide the filling. You want them to have the same amount in each cup so the cheesecakes bake evenly! Each cheesecake should have about 3 Tablespoons of filling.
Look for the jiggle!
The cheesecakes are ready when the edges are set and the centers are still a little wobbly. But they shouldn’t be liquid-y. Basically, they should jiggle like Jell-o when you give the pan a light tap! Don’t let the cheesecakes set completely or brown on the top, or they’ll come out dense and crumbly.
Strawberry topping
Since we’re not thickening the strawberries with anything like cornstarch, they’ll be pretty juicy. I like to add the strawberries right before serving so they don’t leak!
Cooling tip
Cheesecakes crack when you take them straight from the hot oven and into the cool air of the kitchen. So, if you want to avoid cracked tops, make sure to use this little cooling hack! After the cheesecakes are done, turn off the oven and crack the oven door. Let the cheesecakes slowly cool in the oven for about 1 hour. Once they’re room temp, cover the cheesecakes and refrigerate them for another 3-4 hours.
Store leftovers
Place any leftover cheesecakes in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. I would definitely recommend storing leftovers without the strawberry topping, because the juices can make the crust soggy. Any leftover strawberry topping can be refrigerated separately in an airtight container.
Halve or double
This recipe is super easy to halve since all of the ingredients round out to an even measurement. You can definitely double the recipe too, you may just need to bake the miniature strawberry cheesecakes in batches. Or, if you need more servings, try the cupcake pan version since it makes up to 18 smaller cheesecakes!
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Best Ever Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 10 full graham cracker sheets
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled (86 grams)
Cheesecake Filling
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (28 grams)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar (132 grams)
- 16 ounces full-fat cream cheese, softened (454 grams)
- 2/3 cup full-fat sour cream, room temperature (152 grams)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
Strawberry Topping
- 1/2 pound fresh strawberries (227 grams)
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (18 grams)
- 1/2 Tablespoon limoncello or orange juice (8 milliliters)
Equipment
- Food processor or rolling pin
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Mini cheesecake pan or standard cupcake pan with liners
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Lightly grease a mini cheesecake pan with butter or baking spray. Or if you're using a standard cupcake pan, line the cups with paper liners for easy removal. (See the Recipe Notes for more details on using a cupcake pan.)
- Add the graham cracker sheets to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you have semi-fine crumbs. You should end up with around 1 1/2 cups of crumbs (148 grams). Add the sugar and melted butter. Pulse until the graham crackers are finely ground and you have a thick dough.
- Evenly divide the graham cracker mixture into the mini cheesecake cups, about 2 Tablespoons per cup (or 1 1/2 Tablespoons per cupcake liner). Using a pastry tamper or spoon, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the cups. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until the crusts are toasty and light golden-brown. Let the crusts cool completely while you prepare the filling.
Cheesecake Filling
- Fill an oven-safe pan (like a small cake pan) with a few inches of water. Set aside.
- Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is sandy. Add the cream cheese and beat until the cream cheese is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl every once in a while.
- Mix in the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla bean paste. Then, add the eggs and beat just until the filling is well-combined. Using a #20 cookie scoop, evenly divide the filling between the cooled crusts, about 3 Tablespoons per cup (or 2 Tablespoons per cupcake liner). Use a butter knife to smooth the filling evenly over the crusts.
- Place the mini cheesecake pan (or cupcake pan) on the middle rack of the oven and set the pan of water on the rack under the mini cheesecakes. Bake at 325°F (163°C) for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centers are still a bit wobbly (but not liquid-y).
- Once the cheesecakes are baked, turn off the oven and crack the oven door. Let the mini cheesecakes cool for 30-60 minutes in the oven to keep the tops from cracking. Then, cover the pan and refrigerate the cheesecakes for another 3-4 hours or until the filling is completely set.
Strawberry Topping
- De-stem the strawberries and slice them into quarters. Add the sugar and limoncello. Toss the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Right before serving, spoon the strawberry mixture over the chilled cheesecakes. Enjoy!
